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Increasing persecution in Eritrea has driven Christians to flee to Sudan and Libya. Authorities in Libya, however, have recently arrested and brutalised 70 Eritrean refugees and are threatening to return them to their home country, where they will almost certainly be imprisoned and tortured.
According to reports received from several of the detainees, all the approximately 70 Eritrean nationals are male, mainly aged in their twenties and were rounded up during the night of 8 July 2007. When they arrived at the detention facility, they say that they were asked to strip naked and were beaten by guards with implements such as metal chains. Some have reportedly been beaten on numerous subsequent occasions. The detainees say that they have been threatened by the guards with deportation on a number of occasions.
An estimated 500 other Eritrean refugees are being held in Libya under threat of deportation. The UN High Commissioner for Refugees has recommended that Eritrean applicants for asylum should not be repatriated. The recommendation is believed to have been respected by the international community.
Eritrean government officials have in recent months repeatedly denied that Christians are persecuted in their country. Christian agencies have rejected the denials, pointing out that over 2000 Eritrean believers are currently held without charge in domestic jails.
If Christians aren’t being persecuted, why are they fleeing to Libya?
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